18 Simple Storage Ideas For All Of Your Clothes
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No matter whether you live in a spacious home, a tiny studio apartment, or somewhere in between, you need a place to store your clothes. Even if you’re a proud minimalist with just a few key pieces to your wardrobe, you still need to put your things somewhere.
If you have room to spare, then you might have more than enough closets for everything to have its place. But, if you live in a small space with no closet, you likely need to get a little more creative. Plus, you have to think about what kind of clothes you have, from pants to shirts to dresses and beyond.
Luckily, there are plenty of ideas to go around for every style and space. All you need is a little fashion-organization inspiration to get started.
18 Must-Have Storage Ideas For Your Clothes
1. Freestanding Clothing Rack
Who says you need to have a designated closet to store your clothes? You can create a closet with a freestanding clothing rack like this one from Walmart.
Many racks include both hanging space as well as shelving for things like shoes and storage baskets where you can easily store extra shirts, sweaters, socks, or other accessories. This rack features a clean and simple design, but you can find a variety of styles to fit your personal preference.
Plus, if you need more room, all you need to do is buy multiple racks to double or triple your available storage space instantly.
2. Under-the-Bed Garment Bins
Zippered garment bins that fit seamlessly under the bed are the perfect place to store extra items or seasonal clothing that you don’t need to access every day.
Plus, since these streamlined bins zip shut, you don’t have to worry about dust or other unpleasant things making their way onto your clothing.
The clear top on this design from Home Depot makes it a breeze to quickly identify what’s inside, as does the handy label on the front. Although these storage solutions are for under the bed, you can also use them on upper closet shelves or stack them on a closet floor.
3. A Classic Armoire
There’s a reason true classics never go out of style; it’s because they work so well. Armoires have been a go-to for clothes storage for ages, and this wardrobe from Not on the High Street is a perfect example of why.
You get hanging space, shelving, drawers, and even extra valet hooks on the side. Wardrobes and armoires offer an excellent option for rooms with limited clothes storage. They’re an especially good idea for spaces you plan to use as a guest room since they provide an instant closet for your visitors’ belongings.
4. Work Your Way Up the Ladder
If you need some extra clothes storage and want to try your hand at a DIY project, check out this cool wardrobe idea from Collective Gen. A ladder, a few spare boards, and a wooden dowel all come together to create a unique clothing rack, complete with shelving and hanging space.
Plus, it’s versatile. You can adjust the shelves higher or lower to suit your needs, add extra storage with the addition of hooks, paint it a fun color, or leave it unfinished for a more rustic look. Want to make it longer? Get another ladder and some extra boards to extend your wardrobe.
5. Triple Your Space with Vacuum Storage Bags
These vacuum storage bags from Amazon can help you store even more stuff in the same amount of space. All you need is a vacuum in reverse to suck out all the air, compressing the contents inside the bag down to almost 80% of their original size.
They’re a great way to store seasonal clothing that you can rotate out with in-season clothes. For example, store sweaters and scarves in them during the summer and swimsuits and tank tops during the winter. Keep the bags inside of bins under the bed, on a top closet shelf, or anywhere else that’s out of the way.
6. Pipe Dream
If you like the industrial look, pipes make excellent clothing rods. You can use a basic pipe as a rod inside your closet, but copper pipes offer both a functional and beautiful solution when you have exposed storage.
You can hang them wall to wall or from the ceiling like Makezine. You don’t have to go with copper, though; there is also steel, galvanized pipes, and even PVC pipes, so it’s all about choosing a look that matches your personal sense of style. You can even opt to build freestanding clothing racks out of various pipes.
7. Rustic Palette Wardrobe
You’ve probably already figured it out by now, but you can make about anything with wooden palettes. That’s precisely what Pallet Wood Projects showcases, including this fantastic, custom-built wardrobe that consists of, you guessed it, upcycled palettes.
The best thing about creating a DIY wardrobe is you can configure it to fit your specific clothing items so that you get exactly what you need. This particular wardrobe has multiple shelves, a drawer for hidden storage, ample hanging space, and even a slide-out shoe rack. Then, you can hide it all away behind the cabinet doors.
8. Basic but Brilliant – Hanging Shelves
Classic fabric hanging shelves have been a standby for clothing storage for quite a while, and they’re still going strong. It’s because they’re a great way to store things you don’t have to (or want to) hang, like jeans and sweaters.
This set from IKEA features heavy-duty Velcro closures that wrap around the clothes rod, but other styles feature hanger tops. Hanging shelves are an especially great idea for delicate tops and sweaters that can become misshapen if you hang them.
Instead, you can fold them neatly without taking up valuable drawer space that you’d rather use for things like pajamas and underwear.
9. Versatile Over-the-Door Storage
Over-the-door shoe organizers are undoubtedly one of the most versatile storage items out there. Sure, they’re great for shoes, but you can do so much more with them, too. As DIY Village points out, this storage solution doesn’t need to stop with your feet. These handy items can store everything from head to toe and in between.
You can use them to store scarves, gloves, and hats during the winter, then swap them out for T-shirt storage, bathing suits, silk scarves, even socks. The possibilities are truly endless and always within reach, without taking up any floor or shelf space.
10. Horizontal Hanging Hangers
You can do a few things with this clever hanging-hanger idea. If your clothing storage is out in the open, this chain and wooden hanger combo from Learning and Yearning provides a rustic meets industrial look to your space while serving an important function.
But, you can also take this concept and apply it inside of your closet as well, creating additional horizontal hanging space behind your hanging clothes. It’s a great place for things you don’t often wear, like coats, formal dresses, or special seasonal items. You can also install simple cup hooks on the back wall of your closet.
11. Double Your Clothing, Double Your Fun
Instantly double your hanging space with an extra clothes rod like this one from Amazon. It simply hangs from your fixed closet bar, providing you with two times the storage. It’s great for hanging shorter items like shirts, jackets, or folded-over pants.
One option is to use the top bar for things like shirts and jackets and use the hanging bar for your bottoms, like pants or short skirts. This particular rod is about 30 inches long, but you can find various sizes, and there are also adjustable versions available so you can select the size that will work best for you.
12. Motorized Tie Rack
If you have a lot of ties, it can be a hassle trying to sift through them all to find the one you want to wear. A tie rack not only helps keep your ties looking their best, but it also makes it easier for you to see what you have.
This battery-operated, motorized tie rack from Amazon goes even further, rotating at the touch of a button and bringing the tie you want right to your fingertips. It installs on either a clothes rod or wire shelves, and convenient LED lights make it easy to find ties inside a dark closet.
13. Hanging Garment Bags
When you want to keep those special clothing items looking extra-polished and snappy, sealed garment bags are the answer. They help protect your items from snags, dust, and other wear-and-tear that would otherwise ruin your pieces.
This model from Wayfair easily hangs from your clothing rod, and the clear front lets you identify the contents in a snap. Plus, with easy zipper access, you can get your garments in and out of the bag without any fuss.
Garment bags are great for cocktail dresses, suits, dress shirts, overcoats, and any other items that need some extra protection and care.
14. Hidden in Plain Sight with Decorative Baskets
If you live in a small space, have limited closets (or no closets), or maybe you just love clothes and have a lot, your stuff sometimes ends up with no place to go. Instead of piling your clothes over a chair in the corner, or leaving them in a heap on the floor, try these decorative baskets from Crate & Barrel.
You can store shirts, gloves, hats, pajamas, and anything else you can think of and then stack the baskets prettily in a corner. The lids help keep everything contained, and you get instant hidden storage that blends in beautifully with your room’s design.
15. Tank Top Hanger
Simple solutions are often some of the best, and you can’t get much simpler than a hanger and some shower curtain rings. If you have a lot of tank tops, this great idea from Storage Geek helps you keep them all together and within easy reach.
You just slip a tank top on a ring that clips over the hanger bar. You can fit between 20 to 25 tanks on one hanger, then simply hang it in your closet with the rest of your clothes or on the back of a door.
16. Use a Classic, Beautiful Dresser
A high-quality, aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture can really make a huge impact in a room. After the bed, a dresser is often the next largest piece of furniture in the space when it comes to bedroom furniture.
Choosing a beautiful piece with lots of drawer space, like this elegant dresser from Ethan Allen, can go a long way in making your bedroom functional, stylish, and peaceful. If you have multiple items to store in a dresser, one with multi-sized drawers works well.
You can store jewelry, lingerie, and scarves in the smaller spaces and more substantial clothing items in the lower, deeper drawers.
17. Easy Pants Storage
Sometimes it can be a real pain to take folded pants off a hanger and even more of a pain to put them back on. Every time you need to take the hanger off of the rod, flip the pants over, put the hanger back, you know how it is.
Well, this handy-dandy pants hanger from Amazon helps you kiss your woes goodbye with these easy slip-on/slip-off swing-arm rods. Plus, the foam-padded rods help keep your pants in great shape. You can store up to five pairs of pants on one hanger, but note that the bottom rod doesn’t swing.
18. Bookshelf Closet
It seems everybody ends up with an old bookshelf they’re about to toss. Well, check out this idea from Not Just a Housewife, especially if you need some extra closet space. A simple bookcase becomes the perfect closet with just a wooden dowel and a few storage solutions. Again, DIY projects are great for customizing.
If you have long dresses, lose some of the shelves, but if you use it for kid’s clothing, add extra shelves and shorten the hanging space. Pretty boxes and bins keep the things you want hidden, or use a tension rod and curtain to cover it all.
Tips For Getting The Most From Your Clothes Storage
One of the best ways to maximize your clothing storage, both in terms of efficiency and appearance, is to keep your things in check.
Have Regular Clutter-Busting Sessions
Try to go through your clothing at least twice a year (think the major season changes). When you do, take every bit of clothing you own out and sort it into piles to assess everything you own. If you don’t absolutely love something, or it’s worn-out, stained, or damaged, it’s best to let it go.
Likewise, if it no longer fits, give yourself a month, then it’s time to say goodbye. You can also try the one-in-one-out rule. Simply put, if you get a new shirt, you need to toss an old one. Got a new tie? Then another one has to go. Any items still in good condition, you can either sell or donate.
Use Visual Clues To Help You Declutter Clothes
One trick to help keep tabs on how long it’s been since you’ve worn something is the reverse hanger trick. When you go through your clothing, put any hanging item back on the rod backward, then as soon as you wear them, hang them correctly. The next time you go through your clothing, about 6 months later, anything that is still hanging backward, you’ll instantly know with a glance that you haven’t worn it in half a year.
As for folded items, when you wear something, put it to one side of your drawer (say the right), even if you have to move an article over. Then, after a few months, anything that is still on the opposite side (in this case, the left) means you haven’t worn it in a while.
Dare To Fold
If you have a crammed hanging space, then assess which of your clothes you can fold instead. Typically, you should fold things like jeans, T-shirts, sweaters, workout clothes, pajamas, and undergarments. You likely want to hang blouses, dresses, suits, dress shirts, jackets, and other similar items. If you have more hanging items than foldable ones, you might need to switch out some shelving in your closet for more hanging space.
Don’t Get Container Happy
There are awesome storage solutions out there, but that doesn’t mean you need them all. If you buy a bunch of storage bins and baskets before you know what you need, you’re just adding more clutter to your closet chaos. Assess what you have first, measure your space, then decide what you need so you can store your things in a way that works best for you.
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